Louis-Jack is an award-winning artist filmmaker based in London. He is currently participating in the New Approaches development scheme run by FLAMIN / Film London. The programme supports six artists working on feature length films.

In 2016 Louis-Jack was an Associate of Open School East and winner of the New Faces Prize at the Japan Media Arts Festival. His films have been shown in exhibitions and film festivals, including those at The National Art Centre Tokyo, Modern Art Oxford, the Arsenale of Venice, the ICA London, Picturehouse Cinemas and Newlyn Art Gallery.

Louis-Jack's latest short film, SINK OR SWIM is a poetic depiction of depression through underwater ballet. Made with the Royal Opera House, the mental health charity Mind and Arts Council England.

He is currently working on another short film focused on mental wellbeing, PETRICHOR. The story of a fading snooker star in his final match who finds the greatest battle lies not at the table but within.

Never before has a principal dancer been filmed dancing underwater. This unprecedented vision features two of dance‘s rising stars: Francesca Hayward (Principal Dancer with The Royal Ballet) and Charlotte Edmonds (The Royal Ballet’s Young Choreographer). Directed by Louis-Jack and set to an original score by the acclaimed composer Matt Dunkley.

The film has been made with the support of Mind, Arts Council England, The Royal Opera House, DanceEast, The Linbury Trust and Studio Wayne McGregor.

Liam ‘Lightning’ Daniels, an ageing snooker player prepares for his final professional game.

Liam is a has-been who has refused to accept that his career was over years ago. Psychological warfare on the table, a life lived from a suitcase and relentless losses have left him a shell of a man. Snooker once promised adulation, money and solace from his upbringing. But not anymore.

We find Liam at the bottom of a downward spiral, suffering with depression, addictions and wrestling the ghosts of his past.

In a sport where there’s danger in a daydream, a maelstrom in a memory, how will our fragile hero cope in his final shot at redemption?

‘Gill & Gill’ is a visual essay that explores humanity's relationship with stone by juxtaposing two masters of their craft: one of rock climbing, the other of letter carving.

The film looks at the way these two very different practices, united by a common material, share basic principles such as: creativity, problem solving, muscle memory and balance.

Whilst the title, ‘Gill & Gill’, refers to the fathers of modern letter carving and bouldering, Eric Gill and John Gill respectively, the poetic narrative (read by Clive Russell) is illustrated through two contemporary virtuosos of their craft: Richard Kindersley, the world-renowned letter carver and maker of standing stones, and Lucy Creamer, the most accomplished female climber in Britain.

Gates of Rome explores the power and limits of political gesture in the fractured times we live in.

The film casts young, metropolitan hands to act out a range of gestures derived from mainstream politicians and counter-cultural political movements to explore the power and the limits of these gestures today.

The continuous and repetitive gesticulation of our protagonists plays to the beat of a relentless techno soundtrack inflected with samples of nostalgic club classics. Their actions are framed by an interior stream of thought and branded recollections that evoke the fraught semblance of togetherness in nightclub spaces and reveal the uncommitted interchangeability of their gestures.

A climber searches for answers through a mystic; a voicemail highlights issues of respect for the past; a name is carved in stone; a miner’s lyrical verse illuminates an artist's final working place.

'Circling the Mountain' presents a researcher exploring a myriad of texts, films, photographs and audio recordings, each marking instances of legacy and myth preserved within the rocks of the Lake District.

Shifting through four distinct narratives, time and place warp in an exploration of humanity's relationship with stone – an enduring conduit of self-expression and communication.

The narrator performatively flicks through archive material to weave together a fractured story of disparate strands. Along with the use of binaural sound design, this creates a multi-layered experience that immerses the viewer in the researcher's world.

‘Teaching a Tree to Sing’ follows two master luthiers as they build a Lute from beginning to end. The film explores the relationship between the making of the instrument and the accompanying original score written specifically for the lute in construction. It compares the artistry and practices of luthiers, players and composers.

It tells the story of an antiquated practice and those who tenderly execute it whilst re-examining the value of traditional craftwork through a challenging deconstructed score by composer, Laurence Osborn.

The music moves between two opposing constructs of the instrument as it is assembled: its physical nature as a wooden object, and its symbolic identity in the Arts (with its ties to performance practice and the evolution of traditional harmony). These ideas develop in parallel, becoming sonically intertwined with the visuals as the piece progresses.

2014

HD Digital Video with Original Score (16min.)

1 / 5

Whitewash

‘Whitewash’ is a longterm photographic series documenting the expressionistic marks made on shop fronts across London as they undergo redevelopment.

Since 2013 Horton-Stephens has photographed a large number of these painted windows on large format film. When exhibited, the images are displayed on lightboxes made from reclaimed shop roller shutters, thus employing the language of commercial shop fronts.

The images serve as a documentation of the current economic climate whilst highlighting the aesthetic qualities of the process of whitewashing, which becomes akin to monumental abstract painting with its accidental expressionism.

Over a two month period members of Kentish Town Community Centre’s youth group were given disposable cameras to capture their lives and local community with the aid of a series of open-ended briefs and guidance.

The project aimed to engage and inspire members of the Youth Project with an artistic program; heighten their appreciation of their local area and community; and give individuals tangible creative skills.

If you would like access to the online archive of images please email: info@louis-jack.com